In honour of Dr. Laura Gover-Basar, who touched many hearts and minds. She leaves behind threads of possibility and love for all who knew her.

From the Desk of Dr. Miller — January 2026

I write this blog on femicide a few weeks after Victoria, British Columbia experienced one of the first domestic violence homicides of 2026, on January 5. Throughout my career, I have worked across multiple areas of family violence, with a particular focus on intimate partner violence (IPV).

In 2009, while working at the HIV clinic in Calgary, Alberta, we lost a patient to a domestic violence homicide–suicide (Miller et al., 2015). In response, our medical team made a deliberate decision to change how we spoke about domestic violence. Under the leadership of Dr. John Gill, we developed an IPV screening tool that was integrated into clinic protocol. We researched its effectiveness, published our findings, trained professionals, and ultimately saw the tool recognized by the Obama administration’s U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and implemented in emergency department settings.

As a team, we committed to doing everything within our power to ensure we never lost another patient to femicide. To my knowledge, that clinic continues to meet this goal. Intimate partner violence must be talked about. It cannot remain hidden. Silence keeps violence contained within the home and renders it invisible. Violence must be seen, named, met with trauma-informed care, and stopped through appropriate legal responses. We must act now to prevent the burden of this public health crisis from continuing to fall disproportionately on women. The World Health Organization identifies IPV as a major global public health concern, affecting millions of women and resulting in immediate and long-term health, social, and economic consequences.

Women account for the vast majority of those who experience gender-based violence, most often perpetrated by men (Burczycka, 2019). In 2019, of the 107,810 people aged 15 and older who experienced IPV, 79% were women (Conroy, 2021). Forty-four percent of women who had ever been in an intimate partner relationship—approximately 6.2 million women aged 15 and older—reported experiencing psychological, physical, or sexual abuse in an intimate relationship during their lifetime (Cotter, 2021).

Women who experienced physical or sexual abuse before the age of 15 were nearly twice as likely as those without such histories to experience IPV later in life (67% versus 35%), or within the past 12 months (18% versus 10%) (Cotter, 2021). Among those who experienced IPV in the year preceding the survey, women were twice as likely as men to report daily or almost daily abuse (12% versus 6%) (Cotter, 2021).

Indigenous women in Canada experience disproportionately high rates of IPV, with 61% reporting lifetime exposure compared to 44% of non-Indigenous women (Heidinger, 2021). Sixty-seven percent of LGB+ women who had ever been in an intimate partner relationship reported experiencing IPV since age 15, compared to 44% of heterosexual women (Jaffray, 2021). One in five (20%) LGB+ women experienced IPV in the past year—almost double the rate reported by heterosexual women (12%) (Jaffray, 2021).

More than half (55%) of women with disabilities reported experiencing IPV in their lifetime, compared to 37% of women without disabilities (Savage, 2021). Among LGBTQ2 women with disabilities, nearly seven in ten (71%) experienced IPV since the age of 15 (Savage, 2021). Between 2014 and 2019, Canada recorded 497 victims of intimate partner homicide; 80%—or 400 individuals—were women (Conroy, 2021).

This winter semester, on Monday afternoons, I teach 35 students at Mount Royal University in a course titled Interpersonal Violence Across the Lifespan. We engage difficult topics within the broader context of violence across human development. As I write this, I am struck by the urgency not just to discuss gender-based violence, but to act. Action is required from all of us—educators, first responders, community agencies, healthcare professionals, governments and all those ready to stop gender-based violence.

In Canada, one woman or girl is killed by violence every two days (Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Peace, 2022). These statistics speak clearly: the loss of even one woman is too many. Gender-based violence is real. Femicide is a tragic and preventable outcome that demands immediate legal, social, medical, and governmental response to stop its devastating impact on communities across the country.

Start the conversation to end gender-based violence. Act now. Get involved. Become part of the solution. Create legacies that build protective factors and work toward eliminating gender-based violence. Support those who are being harmed—and those who believe they have the right to harm others.

“The other side of healing is bravery.”

— Dr. P. Miller, 2024

References

Burczycka, M. (2019). Trends in self-reported spousal violence in Canada, 2014. Statistics Canada.

Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Peace. (2022). Femicide in Canada: 2022 report.

Conroy, S. (2021). Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile, 2019. Statistics Canada.

Cotter, A. (2021). Intimate partner violence in Canada, 2018: An overview. Statistics Canada.

Heidinger, L. (2021). Intimate partner violence among Indigenous women in Canada. Statistics Canada.

Jaffray, B. (2021). Intimate partner violence among lesbian, gay, bisexual and other sexual minority people in Canada. Statistics Canada.

Miller, P., Gill, J., et al. (2015). Interpersonal Violence and its Impact on Persons Living with HIV; A Social Work Response. Journal of HIV/AIDS and Social Services.14:3, 308-313.

Savage, A. (2021). Intimate partner violence among persons with disabilities in Canada. Statistics Canada.

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Violence against women: Intimate partner and sexual violence against women. World Health Organization.